Meet the Industry- Young Critics, Thursday 7th March

Meet David Grant (Senior Lecturer, Drama, Queens University Belfast), Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast (blog), NVTV), Simon Fallaha (Belfast Telegraph, The Stage, Radio Ulster), Anne Hailes (Irish News, Belfast Times, Irish Times) to discuss and learn about critical review in theatre and the performing arts and find out what life in the industry looks like in a facilitated session.

David Grant is a Senior Lecturer in Drama in the School of Creative Arts at Queen’s University, Belfast, where has worked since 2000. A former Managing Editor of Theatre Ireland magazine, Programme Director of the Dublin Theatre Festival, and Artistic Director of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, he continues work as a theatre director alongside his academic work.

Alan Meban is a freelance journalist who conducts interviews, writes articles, reviews films and theatre performances, reports from civic, academic and political events, chairs discussions, and live-tweets, streams and records lectures and conferences. He runs social media training and coaching sessions, produces podcasts, chairs the FactCheckNI advisory panel, convenes the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s IT Panel, and is a member of the Corrymeela Community.

Simon Fallaha is a freelance arts & culture journalist and photographer, specialising in theatre. Simon works mostly in Derry-Londonderry, and Belfast and has written for The Big List, The Stage, Culture Northern Ireland, the Belfast Telegraph and more.

Anne Hailes was the first woman presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by colleagues at the IPR awards and received an MBE for services to broadcasting and journalism and to the public. Freelance journalist Anne Hailes has worked in the media all her life, broadcasting with BBC Radio, the World Service and Ulster Television and producing corporate documentaries for commercial companies. She also writes for newspapers and magazines in Ireland and the UK. Anne began life behind the scenes as a production assistant at Ulster Television and worked as press and PR officer for seven years with the Ulster Actors Company based at the Arts Theatre. Anne took to the stage herself when she appeared in the Opera House and the Gaiety Theatre in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ alongside entertainer Lionel Blair! Apart from that she is a wife, mother and grandmother!

Learn how to create a Podcast: Friday 8th March

Podcasting session with Aonghus Óg McAnally. Participants will learn how to construct podcasts, using professional equipment and are welcome to record an individual piece if they wish. With permission, TheatreNI will publish some podcasts on their website.

Aonghus Óg McAnally created the year-long Rise Productions: Irish Theatre Podcast project, featuring weekly interviews with leading practitioners, which quickly became the Number 1 Arts podcast on iTunes and is now on the official syllabus at Yale University, NUI Galway, and Ulster University. It returned in 2017 for a second series, and again topped the podcast charts. Aonghus also produced and directed Rise: Audio Drama, two 10-part seasons of short audio plays, which also charted at No.1. Aonghus is a graduate of the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin and also trained with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company in New York. He has an impressive and extensive list of professional film, theatre, television and directing credits.

All participants should register for the sessions by emailing projects@theatreni.org and place ‘Young Critics’ in the subject line. Please indicate in your email whether you wish to attend ‘Removed’ on Thursday 7th evening and whether you might wish to avail of the special offer to attend ‘Oorlog’ at the Belfast Children’s Festival.

Numbers are limited for these sessions. £5 charge and pay at the door for each session.